The Tea Party Express' PAC furthermore reported receiving a lump-sum donation of an additional $5,000 from Joan Holmes in September, according to the Center's review of campaign finance records it filed with the Federal Election Commission.

Such activity would have been unremarkable had Joan Holmes not died of cancer on Feb. 1, 2007. She was cremated, and her ashes are now buried in Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia

The woman's widower said he didn't make the contribution using her name and Sal Russo, a power in the Tea Party Express, said he was surprised by the donation.

One of the best lines within the post comes from Larry Noble, formerly the Center for Responsive Politics' executive director and now a Skadden Arps lawyer. Another excerpt:

"Any time a contribution is made in the name of a deceased person, it's potentially problematic," Larry Noble, an attorney at D.C. law firm Skadden Arps and former executive director of the Center for Responsive Politics, told OpenSecrets Blog. "Generally, the dead aren't supposed to give."

This could all be a simple mistake. And, of course, if you were to comb lists of Democratic donors it'd be amazing if you didn't find a few dead people there too. So no one should take any partisan delight in this. Not that this will stop anyone.